The law and labor strife in the United States, 1881-1894

Janet Currie; Joseph Ferrie

doi:10.1017/s0022050700024645

The law and labor strife in the United States, 1881-1894

Janet Currie^*, Joseph Ferrie

^*Corresponding author for this work

Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article examines the effects of state-level legal innovations governing labor disputes in the late 1800s. This was a period of legal ferment in which worker organizations and employers actively lobbied state governments for changes in the rules governing labor disputes. Cross-state heterogeneity in the legal environment provides an unusual opportunity to investigate the effects of these laws. We use a unique data set with information on 12,965 strikes to show that most of these law changes had surprisingly little effect on strike incidence or outcomes. Important exceptions were maximum hours laws and the use of injunctions.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	42-66
Number of pages	25
Journal	Journal of Economic History
Volume	60
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022050700024645
State	Published - 2000

ASJC Scopus subject areas

History
Economics and Econometrics
Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous)

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abstract = "This article examines the effects of state-level legal innovations governing labor disputes in the late 1800s. This was a period of legal ferment in which worker organizations and employers actively lobbied state governments for changes in the rules governing labor disputes. Cross-state heterogeneity in the legal environment provides an unusual opportunity to investigate the effects of these laws. We use a unique data set with information on 12,965 strikes to show that most of these law changes had surprisingly little effect on strike incidence or outcomes. Important exceptions were maximum hours laws and the use of injunctions.",

author = "Janet Currie and Joseph Ferrie",

note = "Funding Information: We thank David Card for generously providing some of the data and Ludwig Chincarini and Chris Kim for excellent research assistance. Armen Alchian, Richard Freeman, Sandy Jacoby, Bentley MacLeod, Robert Margo, Joseph Tracy, and participants at the NBER Development of the American Economy Program Meeting in March 1994 provided excellent comments. Janet Currie thanks the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for financial support. Joseph Ferrie thanks the Olin Foundation and the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University for financial support. All opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sloan Foundation, the Olin Foundation, or the Institute for Policy Research.",

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The law and labor strife in the United States, 1881-1894

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